1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for processing information, and more particularly to an apparatus, a method, and a program for processing information, capable of easily managing a large number of image data having complicated relationships.
2. Discussion of the Background
In a conventional image pickup apparatus such as a digital camera, image data acquired via a shooting process is managed by storing the image data in a particular folder on a storage medium. An increase in storage capacity of storage media achieved in recent years makes it possible to store a large number of image data. However, this makes it difficult for a user to manage image data.
To avoid the above problem, it has been proposed to change a folder in which to record image data obtained via a shooting process or assign additional information to the image data thereby automatically grouping the image data. See, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-191010.
However, when large-size image data is produced by using a content production system as in a production of television programs, the image data is moving image data with a large data size, and the image data includes a large number of shots compared with image data produced for private use. Besides, the shooting process is very complicated compared with a process of shooting a movie for private use, and thus complicated management of image data (moving image data) acquired via shooting is needed.
In general, the shooting operation in such a large system is performed in accordance with a schedule table or a scenario. However, the shooting operation is not necessarily performed in the same order as the scenario, but the shooting order is often changed depending on the shooting conditions or the convenience of subjects. Thus, in some cases, cuts of scenes which are not adjacent to each other in the scenario are shot in successive shooting operations, or a plurality of scenes are concurrently shot. In some cases, the same cut of the scenario is shot a plurality of times. Conversely, in some cases, a plurality of cuts are shot in the same shooting operation (a plurality of cuts are produced from one clip data). In general, a shooting schedule is made in advance. However, the shooting schedule is often changed before or during the shooting operation depending on the shooting conditions.
In the production of television programs or the like in which a large number of image data (clip data) with a large size are produced during the complicated shooting operation, very complicated management of data is necessary compared with image data for private use. In the above-described conventional management method in which image data are managed by simply grouping them, it is difficult to manage the data well.
In such a conventional management method based on a simple grouping technique, it is difficult to easily identify image data that corresponds to a particular cut of a particular scene. Furthermore, it is difficult to identify specific parts of the whole clip data intended to be employed. When a large number of image data are produced by performing the shooting operation a large number of times, the simple grouping of image data according to the convention technique does not allow it to easily identify which image data is located before or after another image data. When such image data is played back continuously, the conventional technique only allows it to play back the image data in the same order as the shooting order.